Method of utilizing products of combustion and apparatus therefor.



C. A. BAGKSTROM. METHOD OF UTILIZING PRODUCTS OP COMBUSTION ANDAPPARATUS THEREFOR. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, 1908. RENEWED AFB. 7,1910.

974,458. Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

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Q human 1 animator 0. A. BAGKSTROM. METHOD OP'UTILIZING PRODUCTS OFCOMBUSTION AND APPARATUS THEREFOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, 1908. RENEWED APR. 7, 1910.

Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

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/Vihwoma UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A.. BACKSTROM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORTO'IN'LER- NATIONAL POWER GENERATOR COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHOD OF UTILIZING PRODUCTS OF COMBUSTION AND APPARATUS THEREFOR.-

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 15, 1908, Serial No. 453,106. Renewed April7, 1910. Serial No. 554,044.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. BACK- sTnoM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the .city andcounty of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for UtilizingProducts of Combustion in Combination with other Suitable Gases, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to a novel construction of an apparatus forutilizing the products of combustion in combination with othersuitablegases,such as for example steam.

The object in View is to devise a form of construction or means by whichall the products in a generator or boiler such as a mixture of steam,gases of combustion, air or other fluids capable of absorbing andstoring heat will be delivered directly to a prime-mover at a suitablepressure and temperature and discharged therefrom after all of theavailable heat energy has been extracted or converted into useful work.lVith such objects in'view I provide an apparatus wherein the casingsurrounding the generator has a water jacket to which feed water at acomparatively low temperature is fed, thus reducing the tem peraturedifferences to a minimum between the generator proper and thesurrounding atmosphere. he importance of this feature will be readilyapparent to those skilled in this art sincethe temperature of thegenerator pro or is enormously high and the losses Woul be enormouslygreat without interposing-between the generator proper and theatmosphere a heat absorbin medium which is continuously fed into t egenerator proper as the temperature of the heat absorbing medium rises,thereby maintaining a low temperature of the outerwall of the waterjacket and thus avoiding all losses from radiation to the atmosphere- Itis we llknown in the art that an engine 0 e'ratin with steam or oneoperating with t e prod ucts of combustion, such as an internalcombustion en ine, has a comparatively low thermal e ciency, that istosay only a small fraction of the heat ener of the fuel is. convertedinto useful wor For the lpurpose of illustration, I have shown in t eaccompanying drawings one embodiment of my inventlon which has beenfound in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although itis to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which myinvention consists can'be vari- Patented Nov. 1, 1910..

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in thefigures.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a Westinghouse engine of theJunior type in which the valve actuating mechanism has been adapted tooperate pumps 2 and 3 one.

directly on the engine in close proximity to the steam chest 5 and themotive fluid from the generator passes through a conduit 6 downward intothe en ine. The enerator consists of a casing 7 w ich is provided withan annular space or water jacket 8 and an internal boiler or evaporatingmeans 9 con sisting of an outer shell 10 to which is secured two heads11 and 12 perforated to receive a number of tubes 13 in the usualmanner. A burner 14 of any suitable construction is provided to which aliquid or aseous fuel is delivered through the conduit 15 and compressedair is delivered through the conduit 16. means of the sparking device 17and burns continuously under a constant pressure as long as the air andfuel are adm1tted. Water is supplied at 18 and absorbs 'while remainingin the annular space 8 a certain amount of heat. The water passes fromthe chamber 8 through orts 19 into the b o1ler9 and is evaporated ormingsteam which escapes through ports 20 mixlng w1th the products ofcombustion that flow u ward through the tubes 13 into mixing chain er 21from whence the mixture passes directly into the engine throu h port 22and conduit 6 and having performed its m ssion by ex 'andin against theresisting pistons 1s ex auste to the atmosphere.

The mixture is ignited by From the above it will be readily seen thatall the heat energy resulting from the combustion of fuel is utilizedsave that amount which is lost by radiation due to the slighttemperature differences and that due to the exhaust pressure. v

The operation is as follows :Fuel is introduced into the conduit 15 andair under pressure is introduced into the conduit 16 and the mixturepasses to the burner 14: and is ignited by means of any suitablemechanism such as 'the sparking device 17. The products of combustionflow through the tubes or conduits 13 in close proximity to the heatabsorbing medium which would preferably be water and a certain amount ofheat is absorbed by the water thereby producing steam which escapesthrough ports 20 and mixes with the products of combustion so that themixture of steam and prodnets of combustion enters the engine throughport 22 and conduit 6.

It is essential in a device of this character to provlde some means forabsorbing the heat which would otherwise be lost due toa radiation,which onaccount of the small cubic capacity of the device and the hightemperature would be a large percentage of the total heat unitsavailable for useful work, thus rendering the apparatus impractical forcommercial purposes. By the provision of a heat absorbing medium such aswater, surrounding the generator proper, and which is introduceddirectly'into the generator the losses due to outside radiation arereduced to such an extent that they may be entirely ignored and a devicewill be produced in which practically all the heat evolved from theconsumption of the fuel is converted into useful work.

It has been found in practicethat the fuel consumption per horse powerhour is substantially one-third to one-half as compared with other typesheretofore employed.

' It is to be understood that I am not limited to the means herein shownand described to carry out my invention but that these simply illustrateone ,manner in which my method of utilizing all the products of acommingled fuel and air are'fed, a water jacket, a boiler independentlysupported in said jacket and located in the heat zone of v the burner,said boiler having tubes through which the products-of combustion passand having ports intermediate the discharge end of said tubes throughwhich steam may pass to mix-with roducts of combustion passing throughsaid tubes and around said boiler, and said water jacket communicatingwith said boiler.

2. In a generator, means for feeding fuel, means for feeding air, aburner to which the commingled fuel and air is conducted, a waterjacket, and a boilerindependently supported in said jacket, surroundedthereby, and located in the heat zone of the burner, said boiler havingtubes through which the products of combustion may pass and having portssurrounding the discharge ends of said tubes through which products ofcombustion may pass to mix with the steam issuing from said ports andthe products of combustion passing around said boiler, and said waterjacket communicating with said boiler.

3. In a generator, a water jacket, a boiler independently supportedtherein to permit products of combustion to completely surround saidboiler, said boiler having a plurality of open ended tubes through whichproducts of combustion may pass, and provided with ports surrounding thedischarge ends of said tubes'to permit steam to mix with the products ofcombustion passing through the tubes and around the boiler, a burnercarried by the water jacket, means for feeding fuel, and means forfeeding air, and said water jacket completely surrounding the sides andbottom of said boiler.

4. In a steam generator, a boiler having a plurality of open ended tubesto permit passage of products of combustion, and provided with portsbetween the tubes for escape of steam to cause an intimate comminglingof the steam and products of combustion, there being a common chamberfor the steam and products of combustion wherein the mixing takes place,and a source of heat for the boiler, said source of heat operating at apressure higher than atmospheric pressure.

, CHARLES A. BACKSTROM. Vitnesses: H. S. FAIRBANKS, F. A. NEw'roN.

